Art Basel 2017

Founded in 1970, Art Basel today stages the world’s premier art shows for modern and contemporary art, sited in Basel, Miami Beach and Hong Kong.

During this year’s 48th edition the show in Basel drew a particularly strong turnout of both established and new collectors from over 100 countries and attracted an attendance of 95,000 visitors. The exhibition brought together 291 premier galleries from 35 countries, presenting extraordinary contemporary and modern works by over 4,000 artists.

I had a great time in sunny Basel while discovering art, enjoying food and drinks outside the exhibition halls and attending multiple side events, networking with museum representatives, art lovers, collectors and sponsors.

I was amazed by the “Art Unlimited” exhibition space (16,000 m2) – an exciting platform to create and present ambitious large-scale works that transcend the traditional art-fair stand.

For the 7th year in a row Ruinart has been the official champagne at Art Basel. Ruinart expresses its commitment to art through participating in leading international art fairs and working with well-known artists.

This year I had the pleasure to attend the presentation of the sculpture “Silent Witness” by the Spanish artist Jaume Plensa in the collectors lounge, get to know the artist and enjoy the tasty champagne. Ruinart chose an artist able to express language, but more importantly the alphabets, the cultures of the world, their spiritualities, their transmissions and the visionary of Ruinart. Jaume Plensa created a commissioned sculpture paying homage in a poetic and symbolic manner to Dom Thierry Ruinart’s energy and strength through his “retranscribed” texts.